Henry Ford

Ford wrote as well as banked. As a partner in Coggin, Ford, and Martin, he helped publish business booklets for farmers and merchants: Banking Made Plain in 1904, a Pocket Cotton Calculator in 1905, and calculators for cotton seed, cotton picking, wheat, oats, corn and hay by 1907. Sketches he called Dawn of Brown County ran in several of them. He also served as mayor, county treasurer and school trustee. A local rumor held that he was secretly the outlaw Jesse James.

What the plaque says

Henry Ford A native of Virginia, Henry Ford (c. 1845-1910) came to Texas in 1869 and worked as a cowboy on several central Texas ranches. He settled in Brownwood in 1876 and served several terms as county clerk and as a city councilman. A respected civic leader, he was influential in bringing the Santa Fe Railroad to Brownwood. He supported educational efforts in the city, and through his work as a banker and businessman was instrumental in Brownwood's growth. Three times married, he was the father of ten children, five of whom survived to adulthood. (1994)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Lake Brownwood State Park — 11 mi
  A CCC park on a reservoir that filled in a single flood before its dam was done, with stone cabins, a hilltop dance pavilion and a grand staircase climbed by dancers arriving by boat.

More markers nearby

• Charlie Webb and John Wesley Hardin — steps away
• Robert E. Howard — 0.3 mi
• Veda Wells Hodge — 0.9 mi
• Howard Payne University — 1.1 mi